Features

A universal pleasure:
Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa may draw different crowds, but they all gather around a dinner table. Food has the ability to make us feel comfortable and nostalgic. Holiday dishes often are rooted in individual cultures and family memories. For the juniors interviewed, the recipes they make during the holidays reconnect them to their cultural and familial traditions.

Annelisa Crabtree’s Christmas Vanille Kipferin

Africa. The South China Sea. Australia. Geosystems and government teacher Bob Bowdey has not only been all over the world, but has also captured some of the world’s most beautiful and terrifying animals with his camera at the ready.

Having 25 years of experience under his belt, Bowdey performs his hobby as a wildlife photographer during summers when he and his wife travel to wildlife utopias around the world.

He has a unique story to tell with each trip.

In one of his recent trips to Africa, Bowdey came across a male lion sleeping in his camping spot.

A fear frequently confronted by budding artists stems from the prospect of having their work put on display for others to critique. Art teachers have had the opportunity to teach their students to overcome this anxiety by example. Art teachers Nicole Walter, Carol Trost and Kim Jenkins all submitted work to the fourth annual Artist-Teacher Exhibition. Walter’s and Jenkin’s submissions were each selected for display at the exhibition.

Generally, high schoolers and beam welders do not mix. However, administrators have praised the renovation crew’s concern for safety, communication and efficiency.

“Construction crews are kept well informed of school hours and bell times,” FCPS field construction representative Dennis Howard said.

Crews make sure to keep work near the trailers and the often crowded corridor of door five minimal during school. When the building is used after school hours, crews do not do work, such as welding, that might lead to dangerous conflicts.

Inside the main building, Statesmen are greeted with the sights, sounds and smells of construction – wires hang from ceilings, wooden boards replace doorways and dust fills the air. Outside the main building, however, are clean, shiny new classrooms.

These trailers, which stand on top of the tennis courts, house the math department, Driver’s Education and some elective and foreign language classes.

For a teacher who taught Auto Collision for only two years, spending the majority of last year coping with lung cancer, it did not make a difference: Craig Troup’s passing left a trail beyond the capacity that two years would. Troup’s cancer was diagnosed last September. However, he still continued to teach without fail.

Crash. A massive oak tree broke through Isabelle and Sophia Therriault’s home at 2 am.
This tree, “big enough that it would have taken four people to wrap their hands around it,” fell on their house during Hurricane Irene, Isabelle Therriault said. When the loud bang woke up Sophia, she ran upstairs to tell her parents. “I thought [at first] that just the cars in the driveway were hit,” Sophia Therriault said.
The tree hit the bedroom and landed on the Therriault’s parents’ bedroom.
“They were able to get out with only a few cuts and bruises,” Sophia Therriault said.

In terms of career-based opportunities, Marshall offers a bevy of organizations, clubs and support groups. There is DECA for marketing, Future Business Leaders of America for business and Skills USA for general workplace and leadership development.

When an issue is so contentious that teachers have parents on both sides of the issue trying to influence curriculum, it can make the topic more "time-consuming" to teach, according to biology and IB Environmental Systems and Studies teacher Barbara Brown.

The biology curriculum dealing with evolution has resulted in response from students and parents both for and against its inclusion, Brown said. When a student in her class argued with her over evolution, she said it became difficult "to have to research the exact experiments, exact data."

"I would like to think ... that parents trust their teachers’ judgment," English 10 and IB Film teacher Pierce Bello said. Bello said that he hopes "parents trust [him] to choose works of art both written and visual (for film) that teaches students something about life or about the curriculum."

Every year, the English Department works with parents who want to change the current curriculum or have their children read alternative texts.

"Well basically, I feel two ways about it. Obviously the teacher in me, I’ll be honest, gets somewhat defensive.